THAILAND: Universities closed after crackdown

Universities and schools in Bangkok have been shut down this week alongside many businesses and the transport system as anti-government rallies and violent unrest continued in the Thai capital. Chulalongkorn University, in the heart of the area where running battles have been taking place between police and anti-government protesters since May 14, has its gates locked.

"It is quite exposed to danger," Chulalongkorn student Suluck Lamubol told University World News.

But Suluck said the Students Federation of Thailand, which comprises around 40 student organisations across the country - including a dozen in Bangkok - had sent an open letter to the authorities calling on them "to open the university for people who need to be in a safe place".

Suluck, a member of the federation's executive committee, said the request had not been heeded. A "public holiday" that has kept Bangkok's universities closed has been extended by the authorities till this weekend and could continue longer, she said.

Students have become a new force on the streets since they took a clear stand on the side of the Red Shirts in March when they stepped up their demonstrations.

During ongoing anti-government rallies this week, the federation set up a stage where they handed out water, food and medical supplies to anti-government protesters.

"[The federation] has declared that they are part of the [Red Shirt] movement but even as individuals almost all of us are Red," Suluck said.

Meanwhile, a peaceful 17 May demonstration in front of Bangkok's Ramkamhaeng University led by the federation in support of the Red Shirts broke up when gunshots were reportedly fired by unknown assailants. Some 500 students quickly dispersed.

Earlier this week, the federation sent an open letter to the United Nations and international community calling on the UN to pressure the Thai government to cease all the hostility and violent actions toward the protesters, and to denounce the usage of heavy weaponry to suppress unarmed protesters.

The student organisations would have another meeting with the UN human rights representatives, Suluck said. Some two years ago, some students were detained and tortured and, since then, the federation has worked at an international level to put more pressure on the Thai government.

* Read Yojana Sharma's background to the conflict in Sunday's edition of University World News